How to Create a Somber Composition in Photoshop

This one’s another collaboration with my good friend Toma Alin Gabriel. In this Photoshop tutorial you will now learn how to manipulate stock images and turn them into your puppets to express your desired feelings.























Take a look at the final result first. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join PSDTUTS PLUS for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.



First of all I would like to thank the authors of these great stock images: Julia Starr, MouritsaDA-Stock, mjranum-stock, mjranum-stock, mjranum-stock, SXC and the brush zigabooooo.

Step 1

Create a new document size 1900×1200 and fill the background with black. Then take 3 of those scratch textures that Julia Star has created, and apply these effect to them. Leave the first texture set’s Layer Style to Normal, then set the other two to Multiply. This will darken the background and apply some nice color gradients.